Strip feeding and cutting mechanism



E. L. SMITH.

STRIP FEEDING AND CUTTING MEcHANlsM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.5.1919.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

ATTORNEYS.

1*' TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER L. SMITH, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PACKAGE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

STRIP FEEDING AN CUTTING MECHANISM.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application led February 5, 1919. Serial No. 275,186.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ELMER L. SMITH, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Strip `Feeding and Cutting Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in strip feeding and cutting mechanism.

Many examples of stri feeding and cutting mechanism will be found in the prior art and the present invention is concerned more particularly with an improvement associated with strip feeding and cutting mechanism of particular types to eliminate difficulties heretofore encountered with such types-of mechanisms. Briefly, the feeding mechanism is of the type in which the strip is fed by a pushing, rather than a pulling, action to a position beyond the cutting mechanism, and the latter is of the type in which a movable severing blade coperates with a fixed severing blade.

Practical experience with lthis type of feeding and cutting mechanism has shown that there is, under certain conditions, a

' 'tendency for the end of the strip to stick yto the fixed severing The trouble can be reduced to blade after it has been severed, so that, when the feeding mechanism comes into play after the utting operation, the strip, y `reason of its adherence to the blade, will not be readily pushed past the blades, but will pile up in the paper feed chute and clogr the latter. The difficulty mentioned is accentuated when the fed strip is foil or waxed paper or' the like.

a considerable extent if the severing blades are provided with a very keen edge, but to cure the difficulty in this manner necessitates frcquent removal and sharpening of the blades to maintain their edges at the high degree of keenness necessary.

This invention has for its object to provide, in combination with a strip feeding and a strip cutting mechanism of the type disclosed, a device to strip the end of the fed strip from the cutting blade shortly after the cutting operation and before the feeding mechanism. which is intermittently operable. again comes into play.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the following description vand in the illustrative embodiment of the invention, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a strip feeding and cutting mechanism embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view thereof I showing the cutting mechanism and the strlpping device;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary crosssectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the cutting members.

Referring to these drawings, the strip feeding mechanism includes, essentially, simply some means to push the strip to and beyond the cutting mechanism. As an illustrative example of one suitable type of feeding mechanism, two coacting rolls 5 and 6 are shown, which rolls revolve in opposite directions and, by gripping the strip therebetween, feed it, by pushing, into a guide chute 7. In this instance, the feeding of the strip' is aided slightly by gravity, since the ystrip a passes vertically downwardly into the chute 7,but the aid of gravity acting on the light strip a is, of course, not sufficient to overcome the prior difficulties mentioned.

-The strip cutting mechanism is mounted adjacent the lower end of chute 7 and is suitably arranged to operate on strip a only after a predetermined length thereof ,has been fed past the cutting mechanism and into a second chute 8, which is alined with but spaced below the described chute 7. This strip cutting mechanism includes, essentially, a movable cutting member, as the knife blade 9, which coperates with a. suitable fixed surface, as that afforded by the complemental stationary knife blade 10 shown, to sever the strip a, which is fed between the blades.

The means for stripping the strip a from the blade 10, to which it sometimes tends to adhere. comprises a blade 11 which is substantially Acoextensive in width with the strip a and is pivotally supported, to swing in close proximity to the cutting edge of the Stationary blade 10. The stripper 11 is supported by a pair of arms 12 from a shaft 13, the arms being fixed to the latter. The shaft 13 is arranged to be rocked, eS the vas `Referring more particularly to the details of the machine shown to illustrate the invelr tion; the strip feeding mechanism, the rolls 5 and 6, are mounted on shafts 16 and 17 respectively, which shafts are journaled in two spaced side frames A (one only being shown in the drawings). Frames A. are

supported 4by columns B from a suitable main frame or bed plate C. The strip a 1s provided in roll form, the roll being supported on an arbor 18 which is also journaled in frames A. The strip a is led from this roll over suitable guiding means, as the roll 19 (also supported by frames A) to and between the feed rolls 5 and 6 vand thence downwardly into chute 7.

The feed rolls 5 and 6 may conveniently be driven in the following manner. Their shafts 16 .and 1T are connected at one end by intermeshing gears 20, indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Fixed on the other end of shaft 16 is a pinion 21, which is driven by a gear 22 loosely `mounted on the other end of shaft 17. Fixed to gear 22 isl a ratchet 23 and, adjacent the ratchet and 'loosely mounted on shaft 17. is an arm 24,

which carries av pawl 25 yto engage the ratchet. Arm 24 is connected by a link 26 with `one end of a lever 27. which is pivoted intermediate its ends to frame C and carries on its other end a roll to ride in a suitable path cam 28., The latter is fixed to a shaft 29, which is suitably supported from A bed C and is adapted to be driven by any suitable means.

The chute 7 is supported byand between two cross-bars 30. one of whichis secured at its en ds to ybrackets D (one on each of the `described columns B). `To one of the brackets D (the rear as viewed in Fig. l)

v the movable blade 9 is pivoted by a stud 31.

The stationary blade 10 is also supported on stud 31 and is stationarily held to one of thecross-bars 30 by a bracket 31.` Blade 9 has a rearward extension 32, which is connected by a` link 33 with the upper end of a. lever 34, pivoted intermediate its ends to bed C. The lower end of lever 34 bears a roll which is arranged to ride in a suitable path cam 35 fixed on shaft 29.

The stripper blade 11, as described,` is Y fixed on a rock shaft 13 and this shaft is j supported near its ends `by brackets 36 secured to one of the cross-bars 30 described. The arms 12, which. as described, support blade 11 from shaft- 13,'\have upwardly `extending parts 37. `which are adapted toengage the left-hand cross-bar 30 and limit/the swinging movement of blade 11 in a clockwise direction (Fig. 3).' Fixed to and de-v pending from the right-hand cross-bar 30 are a pair of arms 38 the lower ends of which are varranged in the path of arms 12 and are adapted to engage tlielatter to limit the counterclockwise swinging movement of the blade 11. A torsion spring 39 (Fig. 2)

is`c0iled about one end of shaft 13 and has i one end affixed to the latter (o1` as shown to an adjustable collar 40 thereon.) The other end ofspring 39 is fixed to the adjacent bracket 36. The spring 39 is so ar-y i ranged that it tends to swing shaft in acounterclookwise direction (as viewed in Fig. 3) and thus yieldingly holds blade 11 in the illustrated position, wherein arms 12 abut the stop arm 38.

The projection 14, which as described is arranged to abutkthe lower end of arm 15 and rock blade 11 in a clockwise direction, is

part of a block 41, which is preferablyv secured to blade 9 bv a strip 42 of spring metal (Fig. 4). Tlius, after the projection i the block -41 is again cammed downwardly by arm 15, an easy incline 43 being provided on block 41 for this purpose.

In operation,` the cams 28 and 35 are so constructed and arranged that the feed rolls 5 and 6 are'rota-ted while-the blades9 and 10 are held in separated relation. The rolls 5 and 6 are turned throughva predetermined degree of angular movement and thus feed a predetermined length of strip a pastthe shear blades 9 and 10. The rot-ation of the feed rolls 5 and 6 is accomplished'on an upl throw of lever 27 and, on the downthrow` the pawl 25 rides idly over the teeth of ratchet 23 without turning the latter o'r the feed rolls. During the period of time occupied b v t-he downthrow of lever '27 and dur-A ing a further period if necessary; in which the lever 27 dwells in its lower position, the cam 35 causes the blade 9 to be moved toward blade 10 to sever the strip a; The cam 35 then moves'blade 9 away from blade 10 and holds it in open position until a succeeding cycle of operation of the feeding mechanism. The latter` for the purpose of speedingupl the machineas far as possible,

is timed t'o commence its feeding 'movement' inunediat'elyras the strip a is released by blade 9. The stripper 11, being operated by iso 55 mechanism. of shears arranged in adv-ance by so doing, the range of movement of the movable shear blade is more than is desired for operation of the stripper 11, so the stop arms 87 and the yieldable support for projection 14 are important,-the former since it positively arrests the stripper at a time such that the lower end of strip a is freed from blade y10 and positioned substantially centrally above the guide chute 8, into which it must pass; and the latter since it 4 permits the vstripper 11 to'be operated a relatively short distance by a member which moves througha much longer distance.

It is generally found in practice that the severed end of the strip a tends toV adhere to the stationary blade 10. Sometimes,` however, when the movable blade 9 is duller than the fixed bla-de 10, the severed end of the strip will adhere to the former.f The adherence of the strip to the movable blade will not cause difficulty for the severed end will be stripped by other means, on the opening of the shears. Thus, as shown in Fig. 3, the left-hand wall of chute 7 is carried into close proximity with the upper surface Vof blade 49, so that the lower end of such wall will strip the severed end of strip a from the-.blade 9 as the latter is moved away from blade 10.

The invention has been disclosed herein in' a preferred embodiment for illustrative purposes, but the scope of the invention is defined by thev appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

1. In combination.y a strip cutting mechanism having a stationary and a movable shear blade, mechanism. to feed a strip by 4pushing the latter to and beyond the blades while thelatter are held in separated relation, means to actuate the movable blade so that the latter is advanced to sever the strip and then returned, and means movable by and operable on the return of said blade to enga-ge the strip and force it awayfrom said stationary blade. y

` 2. The combination with strip feeding of the feeding mechanism to sever the strip fed by the latter, said shears having only one movable blade. and means controlled by the opening of the shears to positively move the severed end of the strip away from the stationary blade.

3. The combination with web cutting mechanism. which includes a fixed and a movable shear blade and means to open and close them at properly timed intervals, of mechanism behind the cutting mechanism to feed the web to the latter, a stripping; device mounted for movement in close proximity to the fixed shear blade and arranged to engage the severed end of the web and strip it from the latter, and a part yieldably secured near the free end of the movable blade to actuate said device.

4. The combinat-ion with web cutting mechanism, which includes a fixed and a movable shear blade and means to open and close them at properly timed intervals, of mechanism behind the cutting mechanism to feed the web to the latter, a stripping device mounted for movement in close proximity to the fixed shear blade and arranged to engage the severed end of the web and strip it from the latter, stops to limit the movement of said device in each direction, means yieldingly holding the device against one of said stops,` and a part yieldably secured near the free end of the movable blade and engageable on the opening of the shears with said device to move it against the other stop.

5. The combination with web cutting mechanism, which includes a fixed and a movable shear blade and means to open and close them at properly timed intervals, of mechanism behind the ..cutting mechanism to feed the web to the latter, a pivoted stripping blade mounted to swing-in close proximity to the cutting edge of the fixed shear blade, means to limit the swinging movement of the stripping blade in one direction, means yieldingly holding the stripping blade against the first-named means,` a stop to limit the movement of the stripping blade in the other direction, an arm movable with the stripping bla-de, and aprojection yieldably secured to and near the free end of the movable shear blade and engageable on an opening of the shears with said arm` whereby the stripping blade is actuated to strip the web from the fixed shear blade, said projection arranged to be deflected by and away from said arm on continued movement of the movable shear blade after the stripping blade has been arrested by said stop.

6. The combination with web cutting mechanism. which includes a fixed and a movable shear blade and means to open and close them at properly timed intervals, of mechanism behind the cutting mechanism to feed the web to the latter, a pivoted stripping blade mounted to swing in close proximitv to the cutting edge of the fixed shear blade` means to limit the swinging movement of the stripping blade in one direction, means yieldingly holding the stripping blade against the first-named means, a stop to limit the movement of the stripping blade in the other direction, an arm movable with the Stripping blade, a. projection yieldably secured to and near the free end of the movable she-a1' blade and egageable on an opening of the shears with' said arm, whereby the stripping blade is actuated to srip the web from the yfixed shear blade, sai-d projection. arranged to be deflected by and away from said arm f011 continued movement 'of the movable Shear lblade after the stripping blade has been arrested by 'Said stop,` and a cam associated with said projection to per- 10 y ELMER L SMITH? 

